GOVERNMENT yesterday presented to the public, through the National Assembly, details of the more than US$100M agreement it has entered into with Venezuela under its oil-for-rice pact.

The agreement, presented to the House by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, documents the cancellation of Guyana’s oil debt to Venezuela in exchange for white rice and paddy shipments to its Spanish-speaking western neighbour.
The documents, inclusive of the Guyana/Venezuela Rice Trade Agreement, come under the ambit of the Petro Caribe Energy Cooperation Agreement inked last December between Guyana and Venezuela.
At the Night of Reflection on the life of the late Venezuelan Leader Hugo Chavez, Finance Minister Dr Singh, who participated in several key meetings prior to establishment of the Petro Caribe initiative, had praised that initiative’s economic reach and impact on Guyana. At the time, Dr Singh had spoken to the integration efforts made by Chavez, and had suggested those were built around the recognition that “our trade and commercial activities and investment should really serve as a means for sustainable, equitable development.” He said that under the Petro Caribe Agreement, economic cooperation was plugged as a base of action, “in particular, energy integration.”
According to the minister, Chavez had made a clarion call for regional capital to be mobilized for investment within, instead of outside, the region.
In explaining Petro Caribe, Dr Singh said the initiative sees petroleum products being supplied to countries like Guyana under a financing arrangement “that allowed us to pay for it over a deferred period…. Essentially, a part of the value of our oil imports was provided as a loan.”
Dr Singh said that agreements such as the one being tabled in the house serve as an important source of balance-of-payment support, particularly when the countries struggled to meet (their respective) fuel bill(s).”
Under the rice agreements with Venezuela, Dr Singh said, “We were able to secure an important market.” Petro Caribe, he said, saw hundreds of rice farmers and millers benefiting from the assured market in Venezuela; and, more importantly, according to Dr Singh, at a “preferential price for the rice and paddy.”
Guyana has been experiencing “phenomenal growth in the rice industry,” and Dr Singh said a significant part of that growth is attributable to the Venezuelan market under the Petro Caribe initiative.
The Government of Guyana is currently working on a new agreement for 2013 that would see continued exportation of rice to Venezuela.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has also indicated that the Spanish-speaking state has expressed an interest in purchasing more of Guyana’s products, including construction materials.
Meetings in regard to the above disclosure have had to be rescheduled as a result of the death of the late President Chavez; and, as such, the parties are currently looking to agree on a new meeting date.